“MAYBE WE’VE GOT SOMETHING HERE...”

By Raymond Benson

When Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher), an up-and-coming young Hollywood studio exec suggests in a meeting that writers could be eliminated and “any old news story” could be adapted to provide a movie idea—“it would write itself”—Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), the guy at the studio who usually takes story pitches from screenwriters, replies, “...what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we’ve got something here.”

Such is the satirical tone of The Player, which is easily my favorite film of 1992. It’s a mystery why it wasn’t nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but the Academy did honor the film with a Best Director nod for Robert Altman, Best Adapted Screenplay for Michael Tolkin (also co-producer), and Best Film Editing (Geraldine Peroni). Like 1950’s Sunset Boulevard, The Player takes potshots at the movie industry and skewers—fairly lightly—Hollywood.

Director Altman obviously had a good time with this one. He had spent the 1980s on the outs with Hollywood after the 1970s, the years in which Altman enjoyed some of his greatest acclaim (M*A*S*H, Nashville, among others). He had reason to exhibit a somewhat cynical attitude toward Tinsel Town, and probably could have gone further with the acerbic jabs The Player gives to its subject matter. Instead, Altman plays it cool and delivers a mildly critical treatise on the way movies are made, and provides a darned good noir-ish murder mystery as well.

The story involves Mill, superbly played by Robbins, who is receiving death threats from an unknown screenwriter. Mill thinks he knows who it is, and he goes to confront the guy (Vincent D’Onofrio). There’s a fight—and Mill accidentally kills the writer. Mill spends the rest of the movie covering up the crime, avoiding the police investigating the case (Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett), and romancing the dead writer’s girlfriend, June (Greta Scacchi). In the meantime, Mill’s job is threatened by the previously-mentioned Levy, who has begun to attend meetings to which Mill isn’t invited. The Player is part satire-comedy, part 40’s-style noir (but in color), and all bravura filmmaking.

Altman directed a handful of masterpieces, and this is one of them. Although it’s not one of his signature “ensemble” films—there are really only six main characters—the picture arguably could be called his ultimate ensemble film because around sixty celebrities appear as themselves in cameos (Malcolm McDowell, Cher, Burt Reynolds, Buck Henry, Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Lily Tomlin, Scott Glen, Jack Lemmon, Nick Nolte, Elliott Gould, Harry Belafonte, and many more). As a testament to the respect with which they held Altman, these people donated their time as a favor.

The movie is also known for its spectacular opening eight minutes, a crane shot that moves around the studio lot with no cuts, similar to what Orson Welles did at the beginning of Touch of Evil (1958). All through The Player, there are nods and winks to movie insider trivia. The posters on the walls of the studio offices where Mill works are only classics from the 1930s and 40s, mostly film noir titles, slyly suggesting to the audience what we’re watching. Altman is really saying, “You’re watching a movie, folks, and we’re going to play it up.” This is never more evident in the fact that the first thing we see is a clapboard, and we hear the voice of the director calling, “Action!”

The Criterion Blu-ray comes with a new 4K digital restoration that looks fantastic. It has a 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, and an audio commentary from 1992 featuring Altman, Tolkin, and cinematographer Jean Lépine.

There is a wealth of fascinating supplements. A new documentary on the making of the film features interviews with Robbins, Tolkin, associate producer David Levy, and production designer Stephen Altman (the director’s son). The original hour long press conference from the 1992 Cannes Film Festival is included. There’s a vintage interview with Altman, as well as a short documentary about the shooting of the film’s fund-raiser scene that contains many of the cameos. A helpful gallery of stills from the picture also helps to identify the many cameo appearances. There are a few deleted scenes and outtakes, and a deconstruction of the opening shot with alternate commentaries—one by Altman, and another by Tolkin and Lépine. Trailers and TV spots round up the extras, along with an essay in the booklet by author Sam Wasson.

The Player is one for the history books. As the original Blu-ray is out of print, the new Criterion edition is a must-have. The film represents Robert Altman’s masterful “comeback” to Hollywood, and it set him on an even course for the rest of his colorful career.

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